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Alfred Bailey
by George J. Dance Canadian | ethnicity = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = U of New Brunswick, U of Toronto | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = Miramichi Lightning: Collected Poems (1981) | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = Loring Woart Bailey, father | influences = | influenced = | awards = FRSC, Order of Canada | signature = | website = | portaldisp = }} Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey, OC, FRSC (March 18, 1905 - April 21, 1997) was a Canadian poet, historian, and academic administrator. Life Bailey was born in Quebec City, Quebec, the son of Ernestine Valiant (Gale) and professor Loring Woart Bailey. He earned a B.A. in 1927 from the University of New Brunswick (UNB). He was editor of The High School of Quebec Magazine while in high school, and verse editor of The Brunswickian at UNB, and contributed poetry to both magazines.Alfred Bailey, Wikipedia, January 15, 2019. Web, Mar. 3, 2019. Bailey then attended the University of Toronto, where he earned an M.A. in 1929. There he became friends with Earle Birney, Roy Daniells, and Robert Finch, and was introduced to the poetry of T.S. Eliot. After graduating, Bailey worked as a reporter for the Toronto Mail and Empire. He returned to the University of Toronto to earn a Ph.D in 1934. He then spent a year on a Royal Society of Canada fellowship studying at the London School of Economics, where he was introduced to "leftist politics" and the poetry of Dylan Thomas. From 1935 to 1938, he worked as assistant director and associate curator at the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, New Brunswick. In 1938, the president of UNB offered to make Bailey the head of a new Department of History if he could talk the provincial government into granting sufficient funding for it. Bailey was successful, and served as head of the new department for 30 years, until 1969. Bailey instituted Colonial American studies at UNB; as a result a closer liaison developed between its history departments and that of the University of Maine in the 1960s. Visits between scholars from Atlantic Canada and the University of Maine became frequent after the establishment of the New England - Atlantic Provinces Study Center at Orono, Maine, in 1966. Bailey worked hard at starting a literary community in New Brunswick, founding the Bliss Carman Society. The Society held its meetings at his home, and he kept minutes (including records of all poems). His mimeographed sheets of poems read at Society meetings eventually grew into a new literary magazine, The Fiddlehead, established in 1945 and now Canada's longest-running literary journal.The Fiddlehead, Fiddlehead.ca, Web, May 5, 2011. Alfred Bailey was Honorary Librarian and CEO of the UNB Library from 1946 to 1959. From 1946 to 1964, he was the first Dean of Arts at UNB, and from 1965 to 1969, he was Vice President (Academic). He retired in 1970. He wrote poetry from college through retirement. His books of poetry include Songs of the Saguenay (1927), Tao (1930), Border River (1952), Thanks for a Drowned Island (1973), and Miramichi Lightning: The collected poems of Alfred G. Bailey (1981). Writing History Bailey is esteemed for his seminal work in ethnohistory, The Conflict of European and Eastern Algonkian Cultures, 1504-1700: A study in Canadian civilization (his 1937 doctoral dissertation, republished by the University of Toronto Press in 1969). "In a sense," says the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, "he created the field of ethnohistory in Canada." His essay "Overture to Nationhood" in the Literary History of Canada (1965) (which he helped to edit), and his 1972 collection Culture and Nationality: Essays by A.G. Bailey, confirmed his status as cultural historian. Poems The Canadian Encyclopedia says of his poetry: "From conservative beginnings that echoed strongly the romantic tones of late 19th-century verse, Bailey evolved into a contemporary poet whose statement was full of the surrounding reality, whose voice is, at times, deceptively subdued but whose imagination ranged widely and wisely."Michael Gnarowski, "Bailey, Alfred Goldsworthy," Canadian Encyclopedia, Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988, 163. Print. Bailey's poetry has had a formative influence on a generation of younger poets, notably Elizabeth Brewster, Fred Cogswell, and Robert Gibbs. Recognition On retirement, Bailey was appointed professor emeritus at UNB.Linda-Ann Sturgeon, "Biographical Sketch," Dr. Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey fonds, Lib.UNB.ca, Web, Jan. 5, 2009. He received 3 honorary doctorates. He has served on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, the National Library advisory board, and the Governor General's Literary Awards committee.M. Travis Lane, "Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey," New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, STU.ca, Web, May 5, 2011. In 1951, Bailey was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 1978, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. His 1981 Collected Poems, Miramichi Lightning, were nominated for a Governor General's Award. His poetry was anthologized in the Penguin Book of Canadian Verse. He is commemorated by the Alfred G. Bailey Poetry Prize, awarded annually by the Writers' Federation of New Brunswick; and by the Alfred G. Bailey Undergraduate Scholarship, awarded annally to a UNB student majoring in history."Awards, Prizes, Scholarships," Faculty of Arts, UNB.ca, Web, May 5, 2011. Publications Poetry *''Songs of the Saguenay, and other poems''. Quebec City: Chronicle-Telegraph Publications, 1927. *''Tao'' (chapbook). Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1930. *''Border River''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1952. *''Thanks for a Drowned Island'' Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1973. *''Miramichi Lightning: Collected poems.'' Fredericton: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1981. *''The Sun the Wind the Summer Field.'' Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 1996. Non-fiction *''The Conflict of European and Eastern Algonkian Culture, 1504-1700: A study in Canadian civilization''. Saint John, NB: 1937; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969. *''Creative Moments in the Culture of the Maritime Provinces: Address presented to the Humanities Research Council of Canada Maritime Regional Conference, Halifax, June 9-10, 1949.'' Halifax, Dalhousie Review, 1949. *''Culture and Nationality: Essays by A.G. Bailey''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972. *"Overture to Nationhood" in The Literary History of Canada. (W.H. New, general editor). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1976. Edited *''Letters of James and Ellen Robb: Portrait of a Fredericton family in early Victorian times''. Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, 1983.Search results = Bailey, Alfred, John W. Doull Bookseller. Web, Apr. 23, 2014. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy St. Thomas University (New Brunswick).M. Travis Lane, "Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey," New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, STU.ca, Web, May 5, 2011. See also *New Brunswick poets *List of Canadian poets *Timeline of Canadian poetry References Notes External links ;Books *Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey at Amazon.com ;About *Alfred Bailey in the Canadian Encyclopedia *Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey in the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia *"A Sense of the Medium: The poetry of Alfred Bailey" in Canadian Poetry *"On Alfred G. Bailey's 'Elm'," by Zachariah Wells Category:1905 births Category:1997 deaths Category:20th-century poets Category:Canadian anthropologists Category:Canadian historians Category:Canadian university and college faculty deans Category:Canadian poets Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Category:Historians of Canada Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People from Fredericton Category:People from Quebec City Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:University of New Brunswick alumni Category:University of New Brunswick faculty Category:Writers from New Brunswick Category:Poets Category:English-language poets Category:Canadian modernist poets Category:Modernist poets Category:Canadian academics Category:New Brunswick poets